JD/MA in Law and International Affairs

The dual degree program in law and international affairs is designed to provide lawyers interested in international transactions in the public or private sector with background in international politics and economics and, if the student so chooses, with expertise in particular regions, international communications, or international development management that is germane to international practice. The program is well suited for a lawyer or a law-trained administrator in government service whose work is transnational in nature. It also provides a perspective that is broader than that given by legal doctrine to supplement the commercial and business legal knowledge of the lawyer with a private international law practice.

Application. To apply for the dual degree program, the GRE need not be taken; however, all applicants must take the LSAT. For entering law students, applications for this program are first reviewed and acted upon by the law school. Upon admission to the law school, the application is forwarded directly to the School of International Service for that school’s review and decision. Continuing law students may apply after the first year of law school.

Dual Degree Requirements

Law and International Affairs: JD/MA. To complete the dual degree, a student is required to earn eighty-six credit hours of which eighty credits must be earned in law courses. Fifteen of these credits must be appropriate to the student’s area of concentration in the MA program. The law school’s Legal Rhetoric course must be completed satisfactorily to fulfill three of the SIS six-credit research methodologies requirements. Following the first year of law school, the student will be required to take twenty-one credit hours of courses offered by the School of International Service, including the seminar Law in International Affairs. A student also must satisfy a language proficiency requirement and write either a thesis or two non-thesis papers. Upon completing the course work requirements, the student must pass two written comprehensive examinations-one in the field of international law and organizations (in their global political setting) and the other in one of the following fields: international relations, international communication, international development, U.S. and comparative foreign policy, or regional systems of either Latin America, Western Europe, former Soviet Union (CIS) and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, or East and Southeast Asia. The program takes three-and-one-half to four years to complete.